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Farmax conference to focus farmers and rural consultants on 2025 export goals

Decision support software company, Farmax, believes it has a key tool pastoral farmers can use to help the agriculture industry achieve its goal of doubling exports by 2025. The company’s 2015 conference will focus on helping farmers and rural consultants gain confidence in the tools they need to achieve this objective. Minister for Primary Industries Hon Nathan Guy will open the conference at Mac’s Function Centre in Wellington on 7-8 May. Beef + Lamb New Zealand chief executive Dr Scott Champion, OVERSEER general manager Caroline Read and Landcorp Farm Operations general manager Graeme Mulligan will also present over the two-day event. Conference attendees will receive important insights into the current state of New Zealand’s agricultural industry, as well as the Government’s goal of doubling agricultural exports by 2025. This goal is well-aligned with Farmax’s main objective, which is to help pastoral farmers increase productivity and profitability through better planning, monitoring, analysing and reviewing.

Sustainable salmon farming subject of $5.2 million research project

New Zealand government, research and commercial groups are aligning with international salmon experts to make salmon farming here even more sustainable. The $5.2 million project is spearheaded by Nelson-based New Zealand King Salmon and aims to fully understand the specific dietary requirements of King salmon. To conduct the programme, New Zealand King Salmon has brought together a research group comprising Seafood Innovations Ltd (SIL), Nelson’s Cawthron Institute, the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology (NMIT) and Danish feed producer BioMar. The nutritional requirements of the rare King Salmon species – farmed predominantly in New Zealand – differ considerably from the common Atlantic salmon, trout and other salmon species farmed elsewhere in the world. Currently global suppliers produce feed based on environmental and economic considerations for the latter species. New Zealand King Salmon chief operating officer Rubén Álvarez says the company is committed to best practice and the highest quality product and that drives the need to fully understand the species’ dietary requirements. “I came to New Zealand with a background in farming other salmon and trout species around the world and was prepared to apply that knowledge to growing salmon here. “However I immediately realised we were lacking detailed dietary information on King salmon. Although the unique qualities of the King salmon are an advantage for us in our sales and marketing activity, it also means that information based on the nutritional needs of the more common species is not always applicable and R&D for King salmon is not a broader industry priority. “It was obvious that if we didn’t drive this research, it would not happen,” Mr Álvarez says. The aim of the world-first study is to develop a high-quality, species-specific feed that improves vastly on the generic products currently available. Commercial interests are providing half the funding for the […]

Biopure celebrates hard-won China infant formula registration

It’s hugely satisfying to see it all coming together.” Auckland exporter Biopure Health is welcoming in the Chinese New Year by securing what has proved impossible for other small players in China’s tough new infant formula market. The company has gained registration for its Infapure formula brand under strict new Chinese regulations that require infant formula manufacturers and brands to gain approval from China’s National Certification Authority (CNCA) in order to export. These new regulations have seen more than 400 hundreds of brands of New Zealand origin disappear from the Chinese market, with a large number of manufacturers still awaiting approval. Biopure managing director Simon Page says that gaining registration is a “game changer” and puts his company in the box seat for dramatic expansion. “It was touch and go for a while there – a large majority of companies haven’t been able to secure contracts with CNCA approved factories and have either gone out of business or had their plans to launch in China put on hold indefinitely,” said Page. “Instead, to start the year we have placed an order for nine containers of Infapure for shipment in April and we expect to be placing further orders before the end of the year,” he said. A key to the company’s success is its business model. Biopure sells its products through a boutique chain of imported milk stores in China called ‘The New Zealand Milk Bar’ founded by Page and wife Jane, a Chengdu native, in 2012. The pair have rapidly established 25 New Zealand Milk Bars in 23 cities across six provinces in China from their head office in Chengdu where they employ eight staff. The couple’s China company acts as importer and exclusive distributor to the stores which Page says enables greater control and allows more value to […]

Lincoln student in frontline of battle against stink bug

In the wake of the Queensland fruit fly threat Lincoln University PhD student Laura Nixon is working hard to develop a weapon in the fight to stop another unwanted destructive pest, the brown marmorated stink bug, coming into the country. The bug is currently regarded by New Zealand’s horticulture industry as one of the top six pests of concern. Ms Nixon’s research is funded by multiorganisational research collaboration Better Border Security (B3), and she is based at the Bio-Protection Research Centre on Lincoln’s Te Waihora campus. She is trying to come up with a way to chemically detect an infestation of the bugs in a confined space such as a shipping container, one of the ways it is envisaged the insect could make its way into the country. The brown marmorated stink bug is an agricultural pest found in Asia, but it has invaded the United States and it is considered highly likely it could successfully establish in New Zealand if it gets here. Since the insect arrived in the United States in the mid-1990s it has occasionally multiplied into plague proportions. In 2010 it caused US$37 million damage to apple crops across several states. It feeds on more than 300 hosts, primarily fruit trees and woody ornamentals but also field crops. Almost any crop can be at risk. Ms Nixon says the chemical compound, or the stink, the bugs emit when disturbed has been identified but she will work on trying to distinguish it from amongst other naturally emitted odours. Initially she will work with native stink bugs, which are not considered pests, and then travel to the United States to see if her results can be used on the pest species. She says the bugs are closely related so it is expected they will. Ms Nixon says the […]

Nominations open for Beef + Lamb awards

Nominations are now open for this annual event that champions the country’s top performing sheep farmers, breeders, and industry innovators. The fourth Beef + Lamb New Zealand Sheep Industry Awards will take place in Invercargill on Wednesday 1 July 2015. “It’s fitting that the New Zealand sheep industry recognises and rewards its top performers, and in doing so profiles the significant contribution it makes to the New Zealand economy,” says Beef + Lamb New Zealand (B+LNZ) chief executive, Dr Scott Champion. “Productivity levels have improved dramatically over the past 20. Lambing percentages are 20 per cent higher than they were in 1995, and lamb carcase weights are up 28 per cent. “This improvement is down to expert farm management, the application of great science on farm, and genetics. These are the sorts of farming practices that have seen our sheep flock continue to produce the highest quality protein possible, and New Zealand sheep farmers continue to lead the world.” Dr Champion is inviting farmers, sheepmeat processors and others in the industry to join the organisation in celebrating the best of the best, and getting their nominations in for this year’s awards. Award categories cover genetics, production, and business innovation. The genetics awards recognise New Zealand’s top breeders. These will be drawn from the B+LNZ Genetics SIL database. Another six industry awards will be made to nominated individuals or businesses, assessed by a panel of sheep industry experts. The categories are: Sheep Industry Supplier of the Year, open to all New Zealand sheepmeat processors Sheep Industry Science Award, recognising a scientist whose work has made for a more productive and/or profitable sheep industry Sheep Industry Trainer of the Year, to a person enabling the best learning to happen Individual or Business Making a Significant Contribution to the New Zealand Sheep […]

Fledgling agri-food course whetting student appetites

A new multi-disciplinary degree course taking food production beyond the farm gate and onto the world stage is experiencing 150 per cent growth in new enrolment numbers in only the second year it has been offered at Lincoln University. Developed to meet the needs of an industry decrying a lack of graduates prepared for careers in the agri-food supply chain the Bachelor of Agribusiness and Food Marketing degree (B.AFM) has gone from 20 students in 2014 to 50 students this year. It is one of the success stories at Lincoln University’s Te Waihora campus which has seen good growth in new student enrolments in 2015, both for New Zealand and international students. Senior Agribusiness Management lecturer Nic Lees says the degree was a unique course in New Zealand “in that it is an integrated course that includes both commerce and science papers”. “The mix of business, food quality and safety, supply chain management and marketing is what differentiates the programme.” Mr Lees, who is the Director of Lincoln’s Agribusiness and Food Marketing programme says the degree was developed in conjunction with leading agri-food companies. “They have been saying that there is a lack of graduates prepared for careers in the agri-food supply chain beyond the farm gate. New Zealand has traditionally been good at producing food but there is a lack of expertise in marketing and value adding.” The degree has been endorsed by the Australian and New Zealand Produce Marketing Association and agri-food companies such as Zespri, Fonterra, Synlait Milk, ANZCO Foods, Silver Fern Farms and First Light Foods. Mr Lees says the degree equips students with a sound applied knowledge of core business concepts and the unique commercial considerations of the international agrifood industry. Students gain a contextual understanding of the global agribusiness and food marketing sectors. The […]

Food safety and processing key to new Chinese research agreement

Lincoln University continues to develop its interests in China with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with South China University of Technology, from Guangdong Province. As well as offering exchange opportunities for academic staff and students, the MOU aims to establish joint research projects between the two institutions. Most significantly, the requirements for developing a joint research centre for food safety and processing will also be discussed. This week saw a delegation of eight from China visit Lincoln on the back of the MOU. The delegation included Mr Zeng Xin’An, the Dean of the Chinese University’s College of Light Industry and Food Science, along with Mr Chen Yunxian, Vice-Governor of The People’s Government of Guangdong Province; Mr Zeng Lu, Director of the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province; and Mr Pei Duanqin, Director General of Guangzhou Institute of Biomedicine and Health. “At the heart of this MOU is a desire to form research collaborations more specifically around food safety, food processing, and nutrition,” says Lincoln University Professor of Food Science, Charles Brennan. “This could mean anything from developing better processing systems and methods, to innovative new products. It’s an area that is of great importance in China, and so this MOU provides a great opportunity for information sharing and development,” he says. The agreement with South China University of Technology follows on from a series of commercial relationships already established with tertiary institutions and businesses across China; including the MOU signed in November last year with Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group, one of the largest dairy companies in China.

Lincoln grad’s new app makes field work a breeze

A Lincoln University IT graduate has completed an internship at a plant breeding and research company where he developed an app that is making life much easier for staff who carry out field work. Agriseeds science manager Colin Eady says Tao Zhou’s creation, which helps with data capture during field trials, has proven invaluable. “The modular system Tao developed simplifies data capture process, saves time and reduces errors,” says Mr Eady. Mr Zhou took on the internship as part of his Graduate Diploma of Software and IT and says he came up with the idea for the app after talking to Agriseeds staff and monitoring their workflow. “Seed data from the field used to be collected using paper and pen and keyed into a spreadsheet back at the office. After having some discussions with staff, we thought we would make things easier by developing an app,” he says. “The system is based on Microsoft Excel and runs on a tablet. It works by collecting data via a friendly, front-end interface, then the data is automatically transferred to Excel in standard format with error checking and validation. This makes it handy for preventing mistakes.” Mr Eady says the internship finished in November, but Mr Zhou continued to work at Agriseeds for a further three months to help troubleshoot any problems with the app. “During this time, he established efficient electronic capture and transfer of data between the Agriseeds Quality Assurance and Breeding team. He also helped improve a previous Lincoln University/Agriseeds collaboration concerning seed image analysis.” Before he attended Lincoln, Mr Zhou received a Bachelor’s degree in Electronic Science and Technology from Shandong University in Jinan, China, then worked in the software development and IT service industry for two years. “I worked as an engineer in the automation industry in China, […]

Rural Contractors ask: What about us?

Rural Contractors New Zealand is questioning why the Government has made recent changes to immigration rules to help Queenstown employers recruit much needed staff, but continues to ignore similar requests from the rural contracting sector. RCNZ President, Steve Levet agrees with the move made by Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse for a new streamlined visa process – from now until June 2015 – to allow employers in Queenstown to be temporarily exempt from providing evidence of an attempt to recruit within New Zealand – except for roles that Work and Income has identified it may be able to fill. However, Mr Levet suggests a similar scheme is also badly needed in the rural contracting sector. “There is no doubt the tourism sector is an important and valuable part of New Zealand’s economy and the Government is right to make provisions for that sector,” he says. “However, we need similar provisions for the rural contracting sector as there is a gap between rural contractors’ needs for trained and experienced agricultural machinery operators, and unemployed New Zealanders who can do this work.” Mr Levet believes the rules around employing temporary, skilled people from overseas prepared to work for 6-8 months each year need to be simplified as do the regulations restricting people who have previously worked here in past seasons coming back to New Zealand to work. “Contracting is a seasonal business and one that uses sophisticated machinery that requires technical skill to operate productively,” he adds. “Part of this shortfall is met by bringing in skilled operators from overseas.” Mr Levet says despite many attempts made by RCNZ to advocate similar ideas for the rural contracting sector such as the recent tourism initiative, the Government and bureaucrats still fail to acknowledge or understand the issue. “A dire shortage of suitable agricultural machinery […]

FMG rewards three aspiring agriculturalists

Following a record number of applications, FMG has this year offered an additional place on its Agriculture Scholarship programme – rewarding three outstanding school leavers. The recipients include; James Robertson from Ohaupo, Hannah Gibb from Feilding and Brianna Bonnar from Katikati. The three students were selected for their exceptional academic, extra-curricular and agricultural achievements.* “The talent amongst this year’s recipients is quite inspiring, with an impressive number of achievements already under their belts at such a young age,” says FMG’s General Manager HR and Marketing Andrea Brunner. “It’s incredibly encouraging to see such driven and capable students wanting to further their talents to support the primary sector and we feel privileged to be able to be part of that journey and help them succeed,” says Mrs Brunner. Given the record number of applications FMG received for its 2015 intake and in recognition of the high calibre of those applications, FMG took the step this year to offer three scholarships – up from the traditional two. Picture: Hannah Gibb The FMG Agriculture Scholarship programme was set up in 2005, and each year grants 2-3 students $4,000 towards their tuition fees per academic year of their agriculture-based degree at Massey, Lincoln or Waikato. “As a specialist rural business FMG wants to do what it can to help more young people understand the career options within the primary sector – an industry which brings in 60% of New Zealand’s income. Our scholarship programme is just one way we do this”. “We’re excited to have James, Brianna and Hannah on our programme and to support them as they continue to contribute to New Zealand’s agricultural landscape. We wish them every success for their studies,” says Mrs Brunner.

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